Avengers In Trainin
by ILiveInAFoolsParadise
Summary: The Avengers have decided that the time has come to train the next group of the worlds migthiest heroes. There's the trainee of Iron Man, the daughter of Black Widow and Hawkeye, the son of Captain America, the younger cousin of Thor and Edward the son of The Hulk. THey all seem to get along fine. But what happens whe a 6th trainee is introduced?One who doesn't want to be a hero?


"Simple minds are easy to bend, they have almost no thoughts of their own."

That sentence had been gnawing at Thor ever since the little girl had said it two days ago. It was unnerving, though why he found it so, he couldn't quite tell. He had heard his brother, Loki, say almost the exact same thing a day before he heard the girl say it. It was the way she said it, he thought, that disturbed him the most, yes that was it. She had said it in a way that seemed to imply that she was above those with simple minds and even those with great minds. And that since she was above them, they were her play things, that she could and would manipulate them, that really, you couldn't escape her. His brother had said it as a statement of fact, this girl said it as a declaration of superiority.

What was the girl even doing here? She had arrived three days ago with S.H.I.E.L.D Director Fury, who offered no explanation except that they were to watch her, be a good influence on her, "straighten her out" and that they were, to under no condition, remove the bracelets from her wrists. Thor felt like the world's mightiest…..babysitter.

Tony Stark was not happy that he was now responsible for a fifteen year old girl who could not, no, would not listen to him at all. He didn't ask her for much, just sit in the chair he told her, he'll be done in an hour he told her. But no, she would not sit in the chair, rather she got up and walked around picking every piece of technology that happened to be in reach. She seemed to appreciate it, to be impressed with it. This was not what irritated Tony, rather it was the fact that she seemed to brake, everything she touched.

He had tried all manor of ways to make her listen, bribes, threats but none worked. When faced with a bribe, she looked at him and said, "I can not use the money. I am not allowed to leave the tower, where would I go to spend it? And the only use for it in the tower is bribing others, which I'm sure you don't want me to do." Tony then threatened to throw her out, her response was as follows, " You can not throw me out. Director Fury sent me here because he does not have time for me, but does not want me loose in the general population. If you throw me out, he will simply take me right back here. You can't get rid of me, I'll just keep coming back."

He sent her to do chores.

Natasha Romanoff watched the girl as she did the chores that were assigned to her. She moved with purpose, as if every step and swish of the broom was calculated to get the job done quicker and better, and she had no doubt that they were. The Black Widow saw a hint of herself in this girl, alone and closed off to the world. She remembered being like that, how lonely it was. Though she was sure that Director Fury had good reason to keep this girl under safe watch and tight security, she sighed, she just couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl.

"Don't be."

"What?" Natasha asked.

"Don't be sorry for me." the girl replied.

"I wasn't feeling sorry for you." The Black Widow lied, "why would you make that assumption?"

"It was not an assumption, you feel sorry for me. I heard you sigh, you are not reading or watching anything, and I am the only other person in this room. You have been watching me for the last half hour as I go about my chores with a glazed expression on your face. My guess is that you think I am slightly like you and that makes you sorry for me because of what you assume my past is and what my future will be."

Agent Romanoff was stunned. No one had ever been able to tell what she was thinking or feeling, especially if they had just met her. It made her uncomfortable that this girl could.

Captain Steve Rogers didn't mind the girl. Maybe it was because he had never had a conversation with her, maybe it was because he didn't have to watch her, but he thought that she was just like any other juvenile delinquent. He was probably the only one who thought they could truly help the girl. Though what she had done to have the earths mightiest heroes as her parole officers, he couldn't imagine.

Steve had been put in charge of training The Next Avengers, a group of talented young individuals that had been carefully selected to carry on the work of The Avengers when the time came when The Avengers could no longer do it themselves. Steve couldn't help but laugh a little, at the phrase, "carefully selected". Most of them were sons or daughters of current Avengers, Thor's trainee was his cousin.

The trainees were as different and contrasting in personality, looks and morals, as the original Avengers, and Steve wondered if he would face the same challenges making them into a team that he had to face when the Avengers were still being assembled.

There was Kate Romanoff, daughter of Hawkeye and The Black Widow. At 16 years of age she was every bit her mother's daughter, beautiful, intelligent… and dangerous. She was not as secretive and closed off as her mother though. In fact, she didn't even seem to try to hide her emotions or keep her calm, when she was angry you could tell, by the way her eyes narrowed and how she clenched her fists, if the yelling didn't tip you off first.

Then there was Nicole, she didn't have a last name because, well, no one knew why, but she didn't have one. She was Thor's cousin and trainee. Nicole was loud and aggressive, if she liked you, you were safe, if she didn't…well, you'd be facing the business end of her hammer. She was never very serious, and Captain Rogers believed this was because she didn't like facing heavy issues, whenever they got around to talking about some, she'd make a joke out of it and then change the subject. She also shared Thor's trait of not knowing much about earth and was easily fascinated or entertained by the most common place of items, which made her seem rather dimwitted for a 16 year old girl, though she was in no way unintelligent, just…uninformed.

The hulk couldn't very well choose anyone other than his own son, for obvious reasons. Edward Banner was a mild mannered boy of 17, who preferred a good movie or book and a cup of coffee to crime fighting. Not because he didn't want to save the world, or that he was fine with the current crime rate of New York City, but turning into a "giant, green rage monster", as Tony Stark put it, wasn't exactly enjoyable.

There was also Steve's own son Peter. Charismatic, charming and good looking he was popular with the ladies. He was honest, strong, and loyal, everything you'd expect in Captain America's son. He assumed the position of leader of The Next Avengers the very first training session they had, and no one argued with it.

And last, but most certainly not least, was Ari Fowl, trainee of Iron Man. To say that Ari was smart, was like saying that the Eiffel Tower is tall, both phrases deserve an understatement of the year award. Ari was 17 years old, extremely tall, and extremely arrogant. He did not socialize or talk with anyone other than Tony Stark and even then, he appeared to do so only out of necessity. He did not seem to enjoy any of the others company, which was rather unusual for a boy his age, and were it not for regular training sessions, he would not have had any interaction at all with his "peers", if you can call them that.

BEEP!...BEEP!...BEEP!BEEP….BEEP!BEEP!...BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!

WHAM! The alarm clock fell to the ground, silent. The girl had hit it, with startling accuracy, with her foot to turn off the insufferable noise. It just wasn't fair she thought. She had done her best to a good, honest person for the last two years, and this was what she got in return? Changing her name, bracelets that made her feel exhausted all the time, and a ridiculous schedule where she had to wake up at absurd hours of the morning on random days it appeared. She wasn't even in The Next Avengers, why did she have be on their schedule?

When she was little, she had hated her name, why did it have to be so different? But as she had grown older, she learned to love it. It was unique, so unique in fact, that she was sure no other person had the same name. Roughly two years ago, this had proven wrong, nonetheless, she still found it extremely unique. And it was just when she was beginning to be proud of her name that she had to change it. She now went by Elle. _Elle_. Like the letter.

Elle stumbled into the kitchen, her eyes flitting around, searching for a sweet of any kind. Rummaging around in the pantry, she found a box of Captain Crunch, which was _who knows how_ _old. _Being the lazy child she had always been she simply sat down and started to eat handfuls of cereal straight out of the box. One by one Peter, Nicole, Edward, and Kate all came down. Captain America came into the kitchen shortly after.

"Young lady what are you doing? Were you raised by wolves?" Captain America asked, as he saw Elle eating her breakfast.

"I am eating breakfast. And no I was not raised by wolves." Elle replied. She then proceeded to continue.

"We don't eat breakfast until after training and if you weren't raised by wolves, then stop acting like you were." Captain America took away the Captain Crunch.

"But I don't do training with you."

"You do as of now. So get your shoes on and follow the others."

Elle looked around, the others were already fully out fitted for combat and training, while she stood barefoot, in a t-shirt and jeans. She wondered how they managed to even hold their weapons without killing themselves at four in the morning, while she had trouble just walking down the stairs. At that moment Ari came down.

"There you are! I told you to be down here at 4:30 and what time is it now?" asked Captain America.

"It's 5:00" Ari replied.

"And what time are we supposed to leave?"

"5:15"

"So why weren't you down here at 4:30?"

"Because I did not find it necessary to be here earlier than 5:00."

"Drop and give me fifty now soldier!"

Sometimes people forgot Cap was still a military official. And he did not tolerate disrespect or people disregarding his orders. Ari obediently dropped to the ground and began doing pushups, the others looked around bored, as if this happened every time.

Elle sometimes had, what she called, an "information overload". This happened when something unexpected occurred and she didn't know what to do, when she was so shocked that she couldn't process or analyze the situation quickly enough. When one of these happened she applied two principles until she could get some time alone, 1) show absolutely no emotion and 2) keep completely quiet, do not talk at all. This is what she did the moment Ari entered the room.

Luckily, no one noticed much of a change in her attitude. But then again, it was 5:00 in the morning.

"Alright everyone, march to the garage, and load into the car." Cap ordered.

"The car?", Peter asked, "but the training room is in the 2nd underground level, we don't need the car."

"Who said we were going to be in the training room today?"

They all got to the garage, and Peter, Nicole, Kate, Edward, and Ari obediently piled into a giant, black Hummer. Elle on the other hand, opted to sit in the silver Lamborghini _next_ to the Hummer. Had it not been for the bracelets that now adorned her wrists, she could have driven away in that beautiful car, keys never having been needed.

"I agree with your taste. It's a lovely car, but I need to use it."

Elle snapped out of her slouched position. There behind her, was Clint Barton dressed in a suit and tie.

"Take one of Mr. Starks thousand other ones. I am using this one." Elle replied.

"For what?"

"That I don't know, but I am using it. To sit in, to feel important, those are some uses that I might employ."

"You already are sitting in it."

"Ah! Right you are, Mr. Barton. So I guess all that's left is to feel important, not hard in this kind of car."

"Why don't you feel important in the hummer?"

"Because it is outfitted in all black, boring and ugly." Slightly like yourself, Elle thought silently.

"It is filled with young people your age, that are ready to go and train to become the world's protectors, and you don't fell important with them?"

"No, I do not. The reason is that they are heroes, yet I am not one of them. They shun me, they look at me with either pity or irritation. I do not feel important when I am surrounded by people who wish I was not there."

"Just get in the Hummer."

Elle reluctantly trudged to the giant vehicle. At least it had air conditioning. She did not fancy riding in a black vehicle filled with people on a hot August day without such a service. She hated heat, anything above 80 degrees Fahrenheit and she would most likely spend the entire day in the basement; the coolest place in any building, reading. But mildly warm days did not exactly irritate her, she found them rather enjoyable, even if she had to enjoy them alone.

The way the inside of the car was designed, it was supposed to hold 7 people. With the driver's seat and the shotgun seat in front, one row of just two chairs in the middle and the bench-like seat in the back that was intended to hold three people, but really could only hold two. Since the only spot left was the awkward middle seat in the back row, Elle was forced to sit uncomfortably between Nicole and Edward. Ari sat in shotgun, next to Captain America. Kate and Peter occupied the two middle seats, and Edward, Elle, and Nicole, all sat very awkwardly in the back.

"Can we turn on some music?" Kate asked.

"Yeah! Can we listen to Superchick? Or Paramore? Oohh! How about Icon For Hire?" Nicole said. She loved music. Kate thought it slightly humorous that while Nicole had a hard time grasping what YouTube was or learning how to use a cell phone, she could remember all the names of the popular bands that Kate had showed her.

"Sure. Ari put Kate's iPod on the adapter." Steve Rogers replied.

Ari, taking the iPod from Kate, looked miffed that they would have to listen to whatever she had on there. He did not enjoy most modern music, he preferred classical or soundtrack music to anything.

The ride there consisted of Make A Move by Icon For Hire blasting on the radio, Peter and Kate arguing over who was better; James Bond or Jason Borne, and Edward trying to tell everyone about the magnificent wonders of tree moss. It was one long car ride, in both Captain Rogers' and Elle's opinion.

When the vehicle finally came to a halt, Elle could honestly say that she had never been so happy to exit a car in her life. One by one, they all climbed out to see… nothing. They were standing in the middle of a barren field with clumps of grass and shrubbery popping up every once in a while. There were no trees, no hills, but lots of ditches and dents in the ground. Overall, it looked like what many would consider a nuclear wasteland.

They began to do general military exercises, such as push-ups, jumping-jacks and crunches. For all that they did, none of them saw why they had to come out here to train. By the time they finished, Elle was exhausted . It had been a long time since she had a need to do anything physically straining, so she was physically weak and out of shape.

"What are we doing here?" Edward inquired.

"This terrain is needed for the drill we are practicing today." Captain Rogers answered, "Now, I have placed three red flags within a five mile radius of the Hummer, that's only enough for half of you. The goal is for you to find a flag and bring it back to me. However, if you fail to find one, you may take a flag from another person who _has_ found one. Those who return a flag to me will get to eat lunch, those who do not will have to wait until dinner." He turned to Elle, who hadn't eaten all day yesterday, "Just so you know young lady, we do not eat dinner until eight o' clock at night."

"How do we get a flag to you if we're to busy fighting each other to actually, physically give it to you?"

"I will be standing in this area." Captain Rogers pointed to a square area, that was roughly 40 feet by 40 feet. "If you run, walk, jump, or somehow maneuver yourself into this square, you may no longer be attacked by others. Then you may hand over the flag. Understand?"

"Yes, sir" They all answered back.

"Alright. Begin!"


End file.
